Orlando Terranova wins stage seven at the 2015 Dakar Rally

MINI defends its overall lead at the first part of the marathon stages.

Munich (DE). Another stage win for MINI at the 2015 Dakar Rally: Orlando Terranova (AR) and his co-driver Bernardo Graue (AR) won stage seven, claiming their third stage win at this year’s event.

On day seven the Dakar route lead from Iquique in Chile to Uyuni in Bolivia. The drivers had to cross a mountain plateau at an altitude of almost 3,900 metres above sea level. The 321 kilometre-long special stage was held on very loose gravel thus being extremely rough on the tires.

Given those circumstances, MINI posted an extremely strong result: Krzysztof Holowczyc/Xavier Panseri (PL/FR) finished the day in fourth position, maintaining their fourth place in the overall classification as well.

Another three MINI ALL4 Racing finished in the top ten today: Joan “Nani” Roma/Michel Périn (ES/FR) were in fifth position, Nasser Al-Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel (QT/FR) finished seventh, defending their lead in the overall classification. Vladimir Vasilyev/Konstantin Zhiltsov (RU/RU) rounded up the top ten today.

Today the drivers had to be extremely careful as today’s and tomorrow’s stage are part of marathon stage. Two stages at which the drivers can’t call upon their support teams. Only three spare tires are allowed to be carried within the car during that time.

Second part of the marathon stages

On Sunday the Dakar will tackle the final stage before the rest day which will also be the second part of the marathon stages. After the short visit to Bolivia the drivers will head back to the city of Iquique at the Pacific Coast in Chile

The drivers will have to cover 784 timed kilometres across the Salar de Uyuni, a dried out salt lake. At an altitude of approximately 3,700 metres above sea level they can put their foot down before descending on twisty mountain roads towards Iquique. Later they will have to tackle the dunes around Iquique again. A tough and eventful day lies ahead.